Stories and reflections from my life as a Bikram yoga student, trainee, and teacher...

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Competition Success!

I promised myself that I would post an update on the competition before the end of the week, so here we go. For the sake of a quick update, this will be mostly just photos, because I don't want to leave you all hanging!

The venue was amazing. Check it out:

We were set up in one of the central courts of the mall, with chairs downstairs for viewing, but also with the whole second level overlooking the stage, so we drew a huge crowd! It was so much fun to hear everyone's reactions to the yoga poses - all the passer-bys were so impressed, and some of them were so mesmerized that they sat down and watched all afternoon.

As predicted, my kiddos stole the show and made everyone cry. Well not me - I was just grinning my head off. Here are a few pictures from their "half-time" demonstration:

Not too shabby!! Actually, they were brilliant. They practiced very seriously, and they had a great time on stage, especially one the audience started cheering and applauding for their every move. All our practice definitely paid off.

We had an amazing turn-out for Rhode Island. There were 10 women competing in the Rhode Island division, compared to ONE person last year, and 7 of us were from the same studio. All my students were first-time competitors, so they were all really nervous/bewildered/excited, but they all did really well. Everyone's been talking about what a crazy experience it is to compete. It's simultaneously empowering and humbling - you get the chance to show off your hard work for an adoring audience, but it also makes you realize how far you still have to go. I'm just so proud of all of them. Here are a few pictures:

Jamie

Briana

Mandy

Britany

Mo

Kat

Don't they look great?! I'm so happy for them all. They had no idea what they were signing up for at the end of December, but they all made the commitment and did a fantastic job.

Here is also a picture I found of my friend Ashley, showing us how it's done. She placed first for Massachusetts and first overall. She's gonna be the international champion some day, for sure. Here's her awesome tumblr - 1hotGOAL - and here's her gorgeous standing bow!

And of course the news that you are all curious about (possibly).... yes, I managed to stick all my postures this year! (Unlike in previous years, which have been slightly traumatizing.) I wouldn't say that I did my best postures ever - looking at the pictures from the event, I still have a lot of little things to work on! - but I definitely gave my best performance to date and I ended up winning 1st place for Rhode Island. On to Nationals in NYC, March 2nd!!

Ta-da!

Overall it was a really great day. Getting on stage is always nerve-wracking, but it was so much fun to do it in front of a big audience surrounded by wonderful friends and yogis, and it was so inspiring to see some of the other routines. I couldn't believe how many people from our Rhode Island studio made the hike out to Natick to support us - it means so much. Our community is simply the best, no question.